05/07/07 #1 - Allergies and Migraines?

Full Question:I suffer from migraines and was wondering in your experience if allergies have anything to do with getting migraines. I seem to suffer from them when fall starts to begin. Thanks, Barb.

Answer:

Dear Barb;

There is abundant evidence from the headache literature that allergies can have a comorbidity or actually be a trigger of migraine headaches. This was shown very nicely many years ago in both children and adults. For example, children with asthma had a doubling of risk for allergies compared to children without migraines. So, strong and fairly consistent associations between allergies in migraine have been found in all ages. Since we have two large peaks of migraine during the year, namely, the fall and the spring, many people associate plant allergens as a cause of migraine. This may be true to some extent; however, the wide swings in barometric pressure probably play a large or larger role as well.

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Good luck,John Claude Krusz and Teri Robert

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